One of Canada's top aboriginal leaders is the target of an angry protest after taking an all-expense-paid trip to Israel.

An open letter from 47 groups to Phil Fontaine, national chief of the Assembly of First Nations, says he was used by the Canadian Jewish Congress - which paid for the trip - as a cover for "Israeli atrocities committed against the Palestinian people."

Fontaine and 17 other assembly officials toured Israel from Feb. 17 to 22 at a cost of about $4,000 each or $72,000.

The visit, led by the Jewish Congress, did not include the West Bank or Palestinian refugee camps in the Gaza Strip.

"We are sorry that we do not have the means to take you on similar tours to show you what is really happening in Palestine," the letter says.

"Perhaps you should ask the hundreds of international volunteers, including Canadians, who paid their own way to go there and bear witness to the continuous Israeli brutality against the indigenous people of Palestine."

The letter is endorsed by the Al-Huda Muslim Society, the Coalition for a Just Peace in Israel/Palestine, the Free Palestine Alliance and other groups, many promoting human rights. Several dozen more individuals signed.

Fontaine described the trip as "another step in our educational outreach and cultural exchange here in Canada and around the world."

"Israel and the First Nations share a common interest and goal in rebuilding from inflicted harms and commemorating catastrophic pasts," he said.

The Canadian Jewish Congress, which is funded through private donations, first discussed a cultural exchange with the assembly in 1998.

Talks sped up when remarks by former assembly head David Ahenakew made shocking headlines.

He told a conference in 2002 that Jews were responsible for the Second World War. He later added that they were a "disease" and that's why Hitler "fried" 6 million of them.

Ahenakew was convicted in July of wilfully promoting hatred against Jews.

He was a catalyst for the Assembly of First Nations trip to Israel, said Ed Morgan, national president of the Congress.

Still, Morgan said he is baffled and disturbed by the protest.

"We don't propagandize or say anything about the cause of Palestinian nationalism. We believe, I think like most Canadians believe, ... that there should be two states peacefully side by side for two nations and two peoples - each enjoying self-determination."

© The Gazette (Montreal) 2006